In this picture released online by the Sabratha Municipal Council on Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 wounded men lie in a hospital after U.S. airstrikes that were supposed to be aimed at an ISIS training camp in Sabratha, Libya near the Tunisian border
U.S. airstrikes in Libya killed as many as 41 people Friday, according to local officials.
The airstrike pummeled a home in a residential area of the city of Sabratha, targeting suspected militants allegedly linked to the Islamic State group.
Sabratha’s mayor, Hussein al-Thwadi said 41 people were killed and six injured in the strike, according to Reuters.
The military intervention in Libya was such a fantastic success so it's time to do it again https://t.co/IT95JiBnVl
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 19, 2016
The mayor said the dead included a number of Tunisian nationals and at least one Jordanian.
The death toll couldn’t be independently verified at the time of writing.
Reuters also reported an unnamed U.S. military official claimed the target of the strike was Tunisian national Noureddine Chouchane.
The official claimed Chouchane was believed to have been involved two high profile insurgent attacks in Tunisia in 2015.
The airstrike was the second major U.S. operation in Libya in recent months. In November 2015, the United States also carried out airstrikes on the town of Derna, supposedly targeting Islamic State group figure Abu Nabil.
Libya has been in a state of crisis since former leader Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed amid a NATO intervention.
The crisis has since descended into a state of civil war, with two rival governments and a slew of disparate militant groups vying for control of the country, including fighters claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group.
